DictionaryAI

fulfill

verb
fuul-FIL/fʊlˈfɪl/

Formsfulfills, fulfilling, fulfilled

UK spellingfulfil

4 meanings of fulfill

Practice

  1. 1
    carry outverbtransitive
    To satisfy, carry out, or bring to completion an obligation, requirement, or promise.

    New employees must fulfill a training requirement before starting.

    She fulfilled every condition the contract demanded.

    Similarperform, realize

    Oppositebreak, breach, neglect

    Note

    Something owed is the object here: a promise, a demand, a requirement, a condition. The double l is the US spelling, and it holds through fulfills, fulfilling and fulfilled. James Thomson's single-l Fulfils, under the archaic "fill up" meaning, shows the other spelling. Perform puts weight on the doing and realize on the coming true. Fulfill says that what was owed is now complete.

  2. 2
    feel completeverbtransitive
    To satisfy someone emotionally or artistically; to develop one's gifts to the fullest.

    Creative projects fulfill her in a way routine tasks never could.

    He finally felt that his work fulfilled him as an artist.

    Similarsatisfy, gratify

    Oppositefrustrate

    Note

    Here the thing filled is a person rather than a duty: Old English fullfyllan meant "to fill full", and this sense keeps that image of someone filled up by what they do. The activity is the subject and the person the object (her art fulfills her). It is at home in the adjective fulfilling, as in the most fulfilling work I've ever done. Unlike the duty-meeting sense, it describes how something feels rather than what it completes.

  3. 3
    ship ordersverbtransitive
    To package, distribute, or ship goods to customers who have placed orders.

    Local distributors fulfill regional orders within two business days.

    The retailer fulfilled holiday shipments faster after upgrading its system.

    Similarfill, ship, process, dispatch

    Note

    Commerce borrows the word for the stage between sale and delivery. An order is fulfilled when the goods are picked, packed and dispatched to the customer. The usual object is the order or shipment. Unlike the promise-keeping meaning, nothing moral is at stake: the obligation is commercial, and meeting it is a physical job of handling stock.

Less common meaning

  1. 4
    pack fullverbarchaic
    To fill completely; to fill to the utmost capacity.
    The silence which benumbs or strains the sense Fulfils with awe the soul's despair unweeping
    1870, James Thomson, The City of Dreadful Night
    My lady is positively fulfilled of grace.
    Note

    Here the word keeps its Old English sense: fullfyllan meant "to fill full," built from full and fill. Now archaic, it marks its contents with of or with, as in "fulfilled of grace," and James Thomson's The City of Dreadful Night has a silence that "Fulfils with awe the soul's despair." In modern prose, use fill; readers will otherwise hear the "carry out" meaning.

Practice

Can you tell the meanings of fulfill apart? Answer 4 quick questions from this page, or write your own sentence and AI will check it.

Origin

From Middle English fulfillen, from Old English fullfyllan ("to fill full"), formed from ful- plus fill.